Corporate uncertainty won't affect local stores

By HOMER MARQUEZ Herald News Editor

Published 10:26 am, Wednesday, February 5, 2014

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Corporate uncertainty won't affect local stores

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Some big headlines are rocking the corporate world, including two grim articles concerning the closure of 500 RadioShack stores across the nation and the announced bankruptcy of the Plano-based parent company of the Furr’s Buffet restaurant.

But despite the news from the corporate world, local affiliates of the company are saying they will not be affected by the wave of change.

“We will remain open,” said Florestela Gonzalez, the manager of Plainview Furr’s Fresh Buffet. “Our store is very profitable and everything will stay the same; there will be no change.”

On Tuesday, the parent company of Furr’s filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, saying the December ice storm delivered what could be a final blow to the struggling firm.

In a statement, the company said “Furr’s has weathered the macroeconomic storm that began in 2008, but the credit constraints resulting from the financial crisis impacted the company’s ability to finance growth and improvements in process, and subjected the debtors to higher interest and leasing rates.”

The company also said commodity and transportation prices rose, and with the recession the restaurant has had a small window for raising prices.

In one final blow, Furr’s said a December ice storm in central Texas kept potential guests home, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue.

On the electronic side, even though corporate has not officially confirmed it, the Wall Street Journal reports RadioShack Corp. is planning to close around 500 stores in the next few months as part of a restructuring plan. It is not yet known which 500 of the 4,500 stores nationwide will close, or when.

“I don’t think we have anything to be worried about,” said Plainview RadioShack manager Gracie Gomez-Guzman, who said the location has been pretty busy.

“I talked to my district manager, and he said we were safe,” Guzman said.

Guzman said they did take a hit with the closure of Cargill, but they were doing well in sales thanks to their cell phone plans. She also added that they are the No. 1 place that people use to make payments for their cell phone plans.

“That keeps us pretty busy,” Guzman said.

According to WSJ, the company secured $835 million in loans this past October to refinance $625 million worth of debt. The funds are supposedly going toward overhauling the company’s image of an outdated electronics store toward a shopping hub for 21st century gadgets including high-tech smartphones.